The award is part of his Virginia Index of Performance (VIP) incentive program for schools that exceed state and federal accountability standards and achieve excellence goals set by the governor and the Board of Education.

The top award is the Governor’s Award for Educational Excellence, which went to 86 schools state-wide. No local schools are among them, but 22 won "Excellence Awards," the second-tier honor in the program.

These local schools met all state and federal benchmarks for at least two consecutive years and made “significant” progress toward the governor and board’s excellence goals:

The Board of Education also recognized 171 schools with “Competence to Excellence” awards, a third-tier honor given to schools that meet all state and federal benchmarks for at least two years in a row and make some progress toward excellence goals.